Northern Ireland

Video: Thieves use digger to rip ATM from wall

<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; ">Andrew Gregory owner of the garage on the Camlough Road which was targeted in the robbery. Photo: Mal McCann</span>
Andrew Gregory owner of the garage on the Camlough Road which was targeted in the robbery. Photo: Mal McCann Andrew Gregory owner of the garage on the Camlough Road which was targeted in the robbery. Photo: Mal McCann

THIEVES used a digger to rip an ATM machine from the wall of a shop near Newry early this morning.

The machine was stolen from the filling station on the Camlough Road and owner Andrew Gregory said it had only been installed in April following a previous theft six years ago.

Mr Gregory described how CCTV footage showed the thieves approaching the filling station at around 3.30am after stealing a large industrial digger from a nearby building site.

Two young men, wearing hooded tops and jeans, walked alongside the vehicle as it was used to tear the machine from the wall - just hours after it had been filled with cash.

Mr Gregory said the footage shows the ATM being placed on the back of an awaiting trailer, before it swings round and knocks out the canopy of the filling station.

The vehicle was set on fire and abandoned, blocking the road.

Mr Gregory said he was angered by the attack on the family-run business, which his father has owned since 1968.

"There were at least four of them involved. They brought the digger into the forecourt and ripped the ATM out and loaded it onto the back of a trailer.

"They've wrecked the whole place, the canopy is completely destroyed, the place is destroyed."

Mr Gregory said they had only recently recovered from a similar ATM robbery six years ago.

"The place is a mess, we are going to have start all over again," he said.

"We've only got our heads above the water last year and now this has happened."

The road was closed for several hours, causing traffic problems along the busy route, including for pupils attending nearby St Paul's High School in Bessbrook.

Detective Constable Sarah Lyttle has appealed for information. 

“It is believed at this stage that heavy machinery was stolen from a building site on the Camlough Road at around 3.30am this morning, and then used to remove an ATM machine from the wall of a filling station nearby."